[Obesity and women: esthetic preoccupation or medical problem?]

Women more and more frequently refer to medical doctors for treating weight excess. Even if the primum movens is usually a pure esthetic concern, medical aspects should not be neglected. Indeed, if obesity with gynoid adipose tissue distribution is less deleterious than android obesity from a metabolic point of view, severe obesity is frequently associated with cardiovascular risk factors which may hinder the prognosis of these female patients. Other complications are common in obese women, such as oestrogen-related cancers, osteoarticular problems and psychological disturbances. Various therapeutic approaches are available which permit an encouraging weight loss and a rapid improvement of risk factors. Unfortunately, long-term results are often disappointing, essentially because of the difficulty to follow on the long term a strict diet regimen and practice physical exercise and because of the usual unrealistic expectations of the obese women who consult medical doctors.